Mercenaries

All posts tagged Mercenaries

Gorman is one of the more iconic personas from the Iron Kingdoms. His duck-billed alchemical mask, wide hat and huge cloak give him a very mysterious, detached mystique. He’s a great utility piece on the table, and a gem to paint up. The cloak is rife with smooth surfaces to show off blending, and the bottles on his belt let you play with color on an otherwise muted model.

First, I want to thank you for hanging with me. I needed a break after I poured so much time into my local 12-week long Journeyman League, and helped coordinate a weekend chock full of events at the NOVA Open. I was tired, overwhelmed, and like with anything, too much of a good thing can ruin it. So a break was necessary in order to not get burnt out and quit completely, which would have been no fun for anyone.

With Templecon looming on the horizon, and the prospect of hanging out with all my Lost Hemisphere friends and drinking and gallivanting, I’ve been gaining my energy back and I’m eager to get back to painting. As I ponder how to apply my Khador Red & Grey scheme to things like Man-O-War and Iron Fangs, I’m working on some Holiday gifts for some friends. I will be posting these for your enjoyment along with WIPs of my own models.

Again, thanks for sticking by me, and I hope you enjoy the things to come!

Going into this model, I didn’t know too much about Harlan’s character, other than the one time I faced him on the table. He shot the crap out of my Bastions, because they had Defender’s Ward on them, and It was a pain. I know he’s into Morrow, and I know he also has strong opinions about magic. Knowing this little bit of information, I drew up a character in my head, and did my best to portray that.

Harlan’s an adventurer, so the cloak is meant to be worn leather, or perhaps old dirty canvas. Either way, working up from Battlefield Brown to Hammerfall Khaki works. The cloak was done almost entirely with the airbrush. I then went back in and did the shadows of the folds on his arms.

I went with purple and off-white because it’s a regal, royal combo, and it works for religious characters, which Versh is. The blue and gold book it a nod to Cygnar, the primary home of Morrow, Versh’s diety.

At first I thought the thing on his sash was a canteen, but it’s way too small, so I made it a medal. I actually have no idea what it is, but it’s pretty. Same thing with the medal on his chest, and the thing on his bandolier. I don’t know what it is, but it looks cool, and it’s bling.

The bandolier is meant to be canvas, or a lighter cloth. It’s cleaner, unlike his jacket, so the bright white helps convey the cleaner, softer cloth. The black leather shoes are highlighted with Exile blue, and then that is further highlighted with Cygnar Blue Base. I did it rough, and I only hit the brightest parts. I didn’t bother with blending it, because it’s so dark, and I wanted it to look a little chunky.

Before you say anything, yes, I see the lick of blue. I’m pausing now to fix it.

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Ok, that’s better.

The Beaten Purple is shaded with Exile Blue. It’s inspired by another person’s scheme, and I liked how it looked, so I used it. Often I see people on the forum or in comments ask if they can ‘steal’ a scheme, and in my opinion, there is no higher form of flattery. Thus, I have no reservations stealing this cool combo.

The bronze is my usual recipe. Molten Brass, washed with thinned Brown Ink, then most of the bronze reconstituted, leaving stark shadows. It’s then highlighted with Solid Gold, focused on edges as reflections.

I don’t know why I made him blonde, it just fit into the goody-two-shoes vision I had of him. It’s Cygnus Yellow, washed with super thinned down Brown Ink. I love Brown Ink, it’s so versatile.

Anyway, this is what I have for you, this is what I’ve been working on since I posted the Conquest. I currently have a Man-o-War in the airbrush booth, with a coat of Sanguine Base drying. I’m going to post a WIP of it after I’m done with the Airbrush, and before I work on the details. At that point, I’ll discuss more about what I’m learning as I use my airbrush. Today, I just wanted to show off something pretty, and try out a new writing style for the blog.

I really dig comments and questions, so if you have anything to share, or have questions, please, please post them!

So, sometimes I get so caught up in what stuff each faction has, that I forget what the Mercenaries have to offer. So, I’d like to go through some of my favorite Merc models, and then go into the nifty faction models that I like.

Gorman DeWulfe, Rogue Alchemist

Let’s get Dangerous!

He works for lots of factions, namely Khador and Cygnar. His Black Oil Bomb nullifies a target for a round, dropping essentially their entire stat line by 4. To have a 2-3 pt model tie up a 8+ pt model for a round is entirely worth it.

An $8, I just haven’t ever picked him up. Plus his model looks awesome. Darkwing Duck!

Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

I see you!

Reinholdt has three things he does for an incredible 1 pt. He allows your caster to measure between any two models in LOS. He’ll reload your weapon for you, giving you one additional ranged attack, disregarding ROF. He’ll also let you use his lucky charm, boosting an attack or damage roll and discarding the lowest. You can use any of these, each turn.

I want to run a Kara Sloan dual defender type army, and Reinholdt’s a must-have for her since she has an amazing rifle with weaponmaster, but it’s ROF 1.

Eiryss, Prime and Epic

This chimney’s heavy…

I have NQ 14-16, so I’ll be getting the Alt sculpt of pEiryss soon. Both versions of Eiryss are useful, and count as in-faction models for Retribution. She’ll also work for just about every Warmachine faction except Cryx, so she’s incredibly versatile.

Her prime version is great at hunting other solos and stripping a warmachine ‘caster of any ARM boosting focus. Her Epic version is better suited for Hordes as she can strip animi and upkeep spells off targets she hits. She can also shut down arcnodes by simply being near them.

Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

Light it up and take a puff, pass it to me now…

These little guys can place a pretty nice could effect that blocks LOS between models on opposite sides. They are great filler for armies needing that last 1pt. Especially Cygnar, as they don’t really have any 1pt solos except Stormsmiths, who really need to run in trios to get greatest effect.

I need these guys to help me adjust my Trolls army too.

Speaking of which, there are lots of non-mercenary models I need to get to give me a bit of an easier time putting lists together.

Trollblood Whelps

Whelps are hilarious. Due to the regenerative properties of Trollbloods, of a large enough chunk of one gets blown or cut off in battle, it can actually regenerate into a new troll. They’re stunted and not terribly intelligent, but they love the bigger trolls. The best part is, since trolls are always hungry, they’ll just eat a whelp when they’re angry. In the game, they’re the only form of fury management Trolls have. Since I want to run a beast heavy melee beatstick army (what trolls do best) I’ll need some whelps!

Trollblood Fennblades (and UA)

Rawr, our swords are as big as we are!

Tough, reach, vengeance and hard makes these guys the perfect tarpit unit with great offensive capabilities, and medium bases, so they can’t be trampled.. Buy the UA, and they get Set Defense and a mini-feat that gives them pathfinder and +2 to charge distance. How awesome!

Plus, they’re melee beatsticks. Win.

Skorne Cyclops Brute

My name… is Gladiator.

I love Skorne shields. They have so much character! The Brute is a defensive light warbeast, and since I’d be playing a game with a battlebox based army, my warcaster could use some help on the defensive front.

Morghoul likes to run beast heavy, so substituting this guy for one of the offensive Cyclops Savages is not hard to do.

Following the love of shields…

Skorne Karax

“We fight as a single, impenetrable unit.” – Leonidas

Karax are a great tarpit unit for Skorne. They have shield wall, so they’re tough to kill, they have reach, so no much can skinny past them, and they;re relatively cheap points wise. What else could a ‘beast ‘caster ask for?

Lastly, they have shields, which is mandatory for me.

Skorne Razorwurm

With the big nose and overbite, I half expect nerd glasses too…

One of the few non Legion of Everblight models to have Eyeless sight, this beasty is a clean 4 points which takes the Battlebox from 11, to 15 and maintains a Tooth and Claw army. With this guy, substituting a Savage for a Brute would give me nice Offensive potential with a touch of defense.

If I left both Savages in, added the Brute and this guy and maxed out my Beast Handlers, I’d have a nice little 25pt list.

Khador Widowmakers & Marksman

Reach out and touch someone…

A must have for any Khador player, the Widowmakers are 4 points for some of the best snipers in the game. ABle to plink for an auto-point a piece, these models can chew through tarpits and other tough infantry, clearing charge lanes for your ‘jacks. The Marksman is pretty great too.

Khador Casters

I’mma get some!

I’d love to run pButcher again, and I understand Strakov helps the slow Khador ‘jacks get along, so he sounds fun to play as well. Plus, both models look great!

Cygnar Warcaster Kara Sloan

No one does a long distance ranged game like the Sniper Princess. She typically runs with dual Defenders, Reinholdt and a host of other shooty goodness.

HunterThis guy has an extended control range, so he can be up to 4x his controller’s FOCUS away. He works great with the Journeyman Warcaster solo, who’s control range is typically a rather tight 6″. The Hunter makes that 12″. He’s a great assassination vector and hard target eliminator, since his gun has Armor Piercing. Since Jr has 3 FOCUS, that’s 1 to upkeep an Arcane Shield on a target, and 2 to the Hunter for a fully boosted Pow 6 AP attack.

Hottness.

Ol’ Rowdy

Nothing goes better with Stryker than a healthy dose of his character ‘jack, Ol’ Rowdy. A bit expensive on the wallet, but amazing on the battlefield.

Stormclad

If it’s near a unit of Stormblades, it gets a free focus. Stormblades can Marshall a ‘jack. Hmm, I wonder if that’s significant…

If you have a Stormblades unit, you want a Stormclad. He’ll play nicely with Stryker and the boys. He’s not a big priority since he doesn’t play into the ranged aspect of the game, but when I want to boost Stryker’s force to 50 pts, a Stormclad will do nicely coming in at 10 pts.

You can check out my current inventory here. While the list looks impressive, Legion is really the only faction where I basically have everything I need (except Grotesques and unreleased models).

So, what models are on your Holiday Wish List? What models will you be buying yourself if you get some disposable income this season? What lists will you use the models in?